About Lottie’s

Who is Lottie?

When I was young, my grandparents moved in with my great-grandmother shortly after my great-grandfather passed away. Not long after that, my great "aunt" Lottie came to live with them.

In my teens I knew it as a house of wonderful, caring old people. Aunt Lottie was a short, cheerful, apple-head doll kind of a woman. At some point in every family gathering she'd call us all together, raise her small instamatic camera with the flash cube on top, and take a (crooked) bunch picture. Her pictures marked the passage of time in our family for years.

While her kind heart was appreciated by me, it always seemed as though the rest of the family held her at a bit more of a distance, in a way I couldn't understand. As a child, you accept these things as just the way it is without questioning it.

It has been a long time since then. One day just a couple of years ago, I entered my great, great grandfather's name into Google. There was one reference that matched and not my more. Then I entered my great grandfather's name and more information appeared.

One of those entries showed his name as part of a family tree. I scanned it eagerly, looking for the names I know. Yes, there was my grandmother and that was indeed the date of their marriage. But wait, what was that a couple of entries above?

There was another marriage, a first marriage for my great grandfather, before he married the woman I knew as my grandmother. He was married to Charlotte. Charlotte, otherwise known as Lottie. Hmm...Aunt Lottie?

The pieces of my family puzzle were tossed into the air and fell into new places for me.

When Lottie fell ill with cancer, she would have had been divorced from my great grandfather for several years already. She had not remarried and they had no children. There was no other family to take her in. So my great grandmother, the second wife, kindly took in Lottie, the first wife. Lottie lived out her days in that household and became a cherished Aunt to me.

This leads me to the present, and to a home that was built at about the time Lottie would have been a young bride. I wanted to honour my "aunt" Lottie and give her a place of her own again, a place where she would once again feel comforted and secure. It was only after I decided to name this home and house concert venue Lottie's that I realized it was located on Carlotta Avenue. It was meant to be!

Meet your host

Trish is the owner of RedLeaf Music, a boutique music management company, and the welcoming host of Lottie's.

Trish Bolechowsky

She's also the host (usually with a co-host) of The Brew on CKCU,
Mondays from 7 to 8:30 am on 93.1 FM in Ottawa, or ckcufm.com